


Ball Drop in Times Square

by Sholio



Category: Iron Fist (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, New Year's Eve, Post-Season/Series 01, Team Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 23:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17253290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio
Summary: Danny drags his friends to Times Square on New Year's Eve. Set between season 1 & 2.





	Ball Drop in Times Square

**Author's Note:**

> For the last couple of years I've done some kind of New Year's themed ficlet in whatever my main fandom happens to be on New Year's Eve: [2016](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5742253/chapters/22229390) and [2017](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5742253/chapters/30256950). Here's this year's! Happy New Year, fandom!

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Colleen said to Danny, as she stood on tiptoe in an attempt to see over the crowd, most of whom were taller than she was. "I've lived in New York for years and I've always had the common sense to stay far away from Times Square on New Year's Eve."

" _You_ can't believe he talked you into it?" Claire said from Danny's other side. "I think he used some kind of Jedi mind trick on us. You know you can see it a lot better on TV, right, Rand?"

"But that's not the same as actually being here. I've never seen the ball drop and I thought it'd be neat. Back me up here, Colleen."

"Well, I never have either," Colleen said, though what she was thinking was that it _was_ a lot easier to see on TV, plus you weren't freezing.

"What I really can't believe, though," Claire added, "is that you talked _him_ into coming." She jerked a thumb at Ward, on her other side.

"And I'm regretting it already," Ward said grimly. Every line of his body language indicated that he would rather be anywhere other than here. 

They were all huddled against the side of a building, trying not to get trampled in the crush of people pressing close to the barricades that had been erected to keep onlookers cordoned off in more-or-less orderly sections and away from the ball drop. Not that any of them were anywhere near the barricades, the ball, the music acts, or anything else interesting. The subway had been packed, and the crowds only got more impenetrable closer to the square, in spite of the sub-freezing weather and a bitter wind that felt like it was blowing straight down from the Arctic. 

"Coffee?" Claire asked, brandishing a thermos.

"Omigod." Ward snatched it from her. "Someone with sense."

"Coffee," Danny said, wrinkling his nose.

"Bleh," Colleen agreed.

"More for the rest of us," Claire declared, as Ward passed the thermos back to her.

Although ... it _was_ hot. Colleen looked wistfully at it. "Maybe just a sip," she began.

"Are you cold?" Danny asked. "Here." His hand slipped under her scarf and curled around the back of her neck. His fingers were toasty warm, like a heating pad, and she felt the warmth spread deliciously under her coat and tingle down her limbs.

"Mmmmm."

"Better?"

"What are you two doing over there?" Claire wanted to know.

"What do you _think_ they're doing?" Ward said. "We're in public. Knock it off, you two."

Danny kissed Colleen's cheek, his lips blazingly warm against her cool skin, and slipped his hand out from under her scarf. "Anybody else need a warmup? Claire?"

"What?" Claire said. "Sorry. It's loud."

"Give me your hands."

Puzzled, she held out her hands, and Danny sandwiched them between his own. Colleen, fascinated, watched a very slight glow light up his right hand from within, concealed from the crowd by their bodies.

"Wow," Claire said when he let go. She wiggled her fingers. "That's, uh. Really nice. Weird, but nice."

"Ward?"

Ward edged backward, as far as he could get in the press of people around them. "I am not now and will never be that cold."

"He's like a human hot water bottle," Claire said, wiggling her fingers again.

"Not selling it."

"C'mon," Danny said, "you're cold and getting colder; it'll only take a minute."

"Let him Fist you, Ward," Claire said with a perfectly straight face.

"I'm never going anywhere with you people ever again," Ward said as Colleen smothered her giggles in Danny's shoulder and Claire snapped a photo of the look on Danny's face.

 

*

 

Half an hour later Danny had one arm draped over Colleen and the other wrapped around Claire's back and loosely curled over Ward's arm, and they were all wrapped up in a little bubble of Danny's warmth. 

"Is this hard for you?" Colleen asked, looking up at him from under his arm.

"It takes concentration," Danny admitted. "And I'm going to be starving by the time we get back to the dojo. But it doesn't hurt me or anything, if that's what you mean."

"Colleen," Claire said, "can I borrow your boyfriend on cold nights?"

Colleen wrapped her arm tightly around Danny's waist, and turned her head to bury her cold nose in his neck. "No. Mine."

"We're getting close," Ward reported, checking his watch for the fiftieth time in the last five minutes. The _Thank God_ went unspoken but was clear in his tone.

"Hey, guys," Danny said suddenly. "I know it's crowded and cold and uncomfortable, but I really wanted to do this and I didn't want to do it alone, and I really appreciate you guys doing it with me."

Colleen meant to say something about Jedi mind tricks, but she couldn't quite bring herself to, because he just looked so sincere and so _happy,_ and at that moment she loved him with all her heart, more than she'd thought possible. She squeezed his waist and then stood up on tiptoe to try to see over the crowd again.

She was right that they couldn't see a thing from where they were, but there was no doubt when the countdown started because of the crowd yelling it out around them. And Colleen suddenly _got_ why Danny wanted to do this, what people got out of this, because she found herself shouting it along with everyone else. The air was a wall of noise, the crowd quivered with energy, and she pressed herself to Danny's side and called out the final numbers and then the crowd burst into a deafening chorus of screaming around them.

She was unprepared for Danny to sweep her off her feet and spin her around as the world filled up with a blizzard of confetti. She felt herself slam into at least three or four people ("Sorry!" she gasped out, as people cursed at them) before Danny put her down and then kissed her solidly.

While she was still reeling from that, Danny turned around, picked up an astounded-looking Claire, and twirled her too (colliding with a few more annoyed revelers). He let her down and pecked her on the cheek. Then he turned to Ward.

"If you do any of that to me," Ward said, edging away, "I _will_ hit you. I'll lose that fight, and I know that, but it'll be worth it -- oof!"

He didn't get picked up, but he did get hugged.


End file.
